MORENO VALLEY: Husband, wife enjoying first days as principals

Moreno Valley High School Principal Robert Brough, left, talks to student Tony Rodriguez, middle, and teacher Justine Boyer. Brough, 44, graduated from Moreno Valley High School in 1987. He worked as a teacher and police officer before becoming a principal for the Riverside County Office of Education in 2010. This is his first year as principal at Moreno Valley High School.

Mr. Brough hustled through the halls, urging students to get to class.

âYouâre late, youâre late,â he boomed. âIâm old and fat, and I can walk twice as fast as you.â

A mile away and two hours later, Mrs. Brough strolled back and forth across the playground.

âWe walk, we walk, we walk. Thank you,â she called to a boy running toward the basketball courts. Robert and Marisa Brough, both 44, are first-year principals in the Moreno Valley Unified School District. Robert captains the ship at Moreno Valley High School. Marisa runs the show at Sunnymead Elementary School.

âItâs just starting to dawn on us how amazing it is that sheâs the elementary principal and Iâm the high school principal,â Robert Brough said during an interview in his office this week.

Their paths have left and come back to Moreno Valley several times over the years.

They attended elementary and middle schools in Moreno Valley together. Both graduated from Moreno Valley High School in 1987.

They went their separate ways in college, but ended up back in Moreno Valley working together at Valley View High School in 1993. They were team teachers twice a week in a sixth period social studies class. At the same time, she was going to graduate school at Cal State Long Beach.

Thatâs when they started dating.

âI suggested we get together and do some lesson planning,â he said.

They were engaged in 1995. He took a break from teaching the following year.

He thought he would spend one year in the Los Angeles Police Department and write a book about his experiences.

He was accepted into the academy one week before the wedding.

One year of police work turned into five and a half years, the last two with the Riverside Police Department.

âI loved the job and was never going back,â he said.

Then he injured his knee at a canine demonstration at a health fair in Riverside. He retired from being a cop in 2002.

Meanwhile, she had received her masterâs degree in public administration with the hopes of working in city government. Because it was hard to find work in that field, she got a job overseeing after-school programs for University of California Cooperative Extension in Los Angeles County.

She left that job after four years to become a history teacher at Canyon Springs High School in Moreno Valley.

The same year he left police work, Vista del Lago High School in Moreno Valley was opening. They decided they wanted to teach together again. She transferred to the new school teaching social studies. He got a job there as an English teacher.

Exhibits for struggling learners free to see; City sets Recreation Expo; Library participating in In-N-Out reading program; New fair seeks volunteers; Student wins visual arts contest; Program seeks to help seniors and their pets; Flower show set for April; High school seeks sponsors for event; Voting open on water conservation posters.

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